Legislation

The House Financial Services Committee (FSC) will be chaired by one of the most outspoken opponents of the Trump administration and a firm supporter of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) mission, thanks to the Democratic Caucus’ decision to tap Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) for the role. Waters will become the first woman to lead the panel.

Waters has served as the committee’s ranking member since 2013 alongside Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), who she will succeed upon his retirement in January 2019, before the start of the 116th Congress.

Find out what she had to say about her selection for the position.

A month after polling places across the country closed their doors for the night, it appears we finally know how the congressional races turned out.

Well … almost.

The Senate has been finalized, and the House appeared to be as well as the final contested race in California seems to be decided. However, allegations in a North Carolina race for Financial Services Committee member Robert Pittenger’s seat have thrown a race thought to be over into unknown status. Read on for the latest on the makeup of the 116th Congress.

One of two contested Senate races saw a concession roughly a week following Election Night. That's not including a run-off for the Mississippi senate seat set for the end of the month.

On the House side, Democrats flipped several seats on Election Night and there are other races that have yet to be decided with some headed for recount. 

Find out more updates from the numerous races still being contested throughout the country.

Streamlined call reports will become a reality for many more banks with the implementation of a new rule proposed by the federal banking agencies, as directed by S. 2155.

The proposal immediately met with criticism from the Independent Community Bankers of America, which argued that the agencies failed to fulfill the intent of Congress in lessening condition reporting burdens.

Find out more about the proposal and the industry’s initial take on it.

Voters across the country ensured there would be a check and balance in place in the federal government, as Republicans looked to maintain their advantage in the Senate but Democrats swept to a resounding victory in House races to reclaim the majority. Read on for more details.

The mortgage banking industry has gotten behind bipartisan legislation that would clear up ambiguous language in S. 2155, ensuring that thousands of veterans’ loans are eligible for insurance through Ginnie Mae.

H.R. 6737, known as the Protect Affordable Mortgages for Veterans Act, passed by voice vote in the House. It would amend Title III of the recently enacted law, which implemented new eligibility requirements for refinanced Veterans Affairs (VA) loans to become Mortgage-Backed Securities guaranteed by Ginnie Mae.

Find out more about the technical fix proposed by this bill.

On the same day he and a fellow congressman were named the co-chairs of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) revealed plans to introduce three bills designed to support Blockchain technology and digital currencies.

Emmer introduced the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, the Safe Harbor for Taxpayers with Forked Assets Act and a resolution supporting the development digital currencies and Blockchain technology.

Find out more details about the legislative pieces.

Legislation introduced by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) proposes to increase consumer privacy protections and reduce burdens to certain financial institutions through amendments to the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti Money Laundering Rules (BSA/AML).

H.R. 6850, known as the Financial Reporting Threshold Modernization Act, would raise key thresholds that stipulate when covered financial institutions must take certain measures to ensure the security of consumers’ data.

Read on to find out more details about the legislation and which industry trade groups support it.

Two bipartisan bills that recently passed the House propose to limit federal oversight of insurance savings and loan holding companies and facilitate better cooperation between foreign and domestic financial crime units in working to root out cybercriminals.

H.R. 5059, also known as the “State Insurance Regulation Preservation Act,” and H.R. 6411, the “FinCEN Improvement Act of 2018,” both passed by voice vote and were sent to the Senate, where they were read twice and referred to the Senate Banking Committee.

Find out more about the two legislative pieces and what they propose.

The financial industry praised the House Financial Services Committee’s recent 32-20 vote to advance H.R. 6743, known as the “Consumer Information Notification Requirement Act.”

Trade groups also noted their support for a pair of bills the committee passed aimed at revising definitions pertaining to guidance materials and definitions pertaining to exempt deposits collected through an affiliate or subsidiary.

Find out more details about on the legislation and why the trade associations stood behind it.